[Footnote 1:  For thirty-five days they were advancing ’where fathom-line could never touch the ground.’]

[Footnote 2:  On Thursday, the 11th of October, 1492.]

[Footnote 3:  A light in the midst of darkness, signifying the spiritual light that he came to spread there.  F. Col. c. 22.  Herrera, I i 12.]

[Footnote 4:  Pedro Gutierrez, a Page of the King’s Chamber.  Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, Comptroller of the Fleet.]

CANTO IX. 
The New World.

Long on the wave the morning mists repos’d,
Then broke—­and, melting into light, disclos’d
Half-circling hills, whose everlasting woods
Sweep with their sable skirts the shadowy floods. 
—­And say, when all, to holy transport giv’n,
Embraced and wept as at the gates of Heav’nly,
When one and all of us, repentant, ran,
And, on our faces, bless’ the wondrous Man;
Say, was I then deceiv’d, or from the skies
Burst on my ear seraphic harmonies? 
“Glory to God!” unnumber’d voices sung,
“Glory to God!” the vales and mountains rung,
Voices that hail’ Creation’s primal morn,
And to the shepherds sung a Saviour born. 
   Slowly to land the sacred cross we bore, [k]
And, kneeling, kiss’d with pious lips the shore. 
But how the scene pour tray? [l] Nymphs of romance,
[m] Youths graceful as the Faun, [n] with rapturous glance,
Spring from the glades, and down the green steeps run,
To greet their mighty guests, “The children of the Sun!”
   Features so fair, in garments richly wrought,
From citadels, with Heav’n’s own thunder fraught,
Check’d their light footsteps—­statue-like they stood,
As worshipp’d forms, the Genii of the Wood! 
   But see, the regal plumes, the couch of state! [o]
Still, where it moves, the wise in council wait! 
See now borne forth the monstrous mask of gold, [Footnote 1]
And ebon chair [also Footnote 1] of many a serpent-fold;
These now exchang’d for gifts that thrice surpass
The wondrous ring, and lamp, and horse of brass. [p]
What long-drawn tube transports the gazer home, [Footnote 2]
Kindling with stars at noon the ethereal dome? 
’Tis here:  and here circles of solid light [Footnote 1 again]
Charm with another self the cheated sight;
As man to man another self disclose,
That now with terror starts, with triumph glows!

[Footnote 1:  F. Columbus, c. 28 34. & 69.]

[Footnote 2:  For the effects of the telescope, and the mirror, on an uncultivated mind, see Wallis’s Voyage round the World, c. 2 & 6.]

CANTO X.
Cora—­luxuriant vegetation—­the Humming-bird—­the Fountain of Youth.